Today is Friday January 29, 2016Friday of the Third Week of Ordinary Time
A Reading from Second Samuel 2 Sm 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, David sent Jo'ab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
[2] It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking upon the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.
[3] And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is not this Bathshe'ba, the daughter of Eli'am, the wife of Uri'ah the Hittite?" [4] So David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her.
And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, "I am with child." [6] So David sent word to Jo'ab, "Send me Uri'ah the Hittite." And Jo'ab sent Uri'ah to David.
[7] When Uri'ah came to him, David asked how Jo'ab was doing, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered. [8] Then David said to Uri'ah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet."
And Uri'ah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king. [9] But Uri'ah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.
[10] When they told David, "Uri'ah did not go down to his house," David said to Uri'ah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?"
And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. [14] In the morning David wrote a letter to Jo'ab, and sent it by the hand of Uri'ah.
[15] In the letter he wrote, "Set Uri'ah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die." [16] And as Jo'ab was besieging the city, he assigned Uri'ah to the place where he knew there were valiant men.
[17] And the men of the city came out and fought with Jo'ab; and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uri'ah the Hittite was slain also.
The Word of the Lord.
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From Psalm 51 PS 51:3-4, 5-6a, 6bcd-7, 10-11 R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.Thoroughly wash me from my guiltand of my sin cleanse me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense,and my sin is before me always:“Against you only have I sinned,and done what is evil in your sight.”
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
I have done such evil in your sightthat you are just in your sentence,blameless when you condemn.True, I was born guilty,a sinner, even as my mother conceived me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Let me hear the sounds of joy and gladness;the bones you have crushed shall rejoice.Turn away your face from my sins,and blot out all my guilt.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
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A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark Mk 4:26-34
And Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground,
[27] and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. [28] The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. [29] But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." [30] And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?
[31] It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; [32] yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." [33] With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;
[34] he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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